The language of the commandment itself leads us to such broad applications. The Hebrew verb ratsakh found in this commandment is translated “murder” or “kill.” We are familiar with “Thou shalt not kill” from the KJV. The ESV, which I have been using regularly in this book, translates “You shall not murder.” Most often, ratsakh refers to killing that is unlawful p 687 or forbidden. It is not used for the killing of animals or for killing in war. That would suggest that the best translation here is “murder,” not the more general “kill.” However, the term differs from our English word murder in that it applies to manslaughter and negligent homicide.2

Deuteronomy 19:5 describes a case “when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies.” The implication is that the killing here is accidental, so the killing is not what we normally call murder. Nevertheless, the word that describes the person responsible is a form of the verb used in the sixth commandment. The ESV translates it “manslayer” (v. 4), which is somewhat archaic, but may be the best choice. So ratsakh in the sixth commandment is narrower than “kill,” but somewhat broader than “murder.”

In the Old Testament times, the elders of the nearest village would measure where the body was found, and find out where was the closest city or village was. Then they would notify the elders of the nearest village or city to begin taking action. They were to take an unworked heifer into an unworked valley, and break its neck, cut its head off, as a form of atonement for murder. Here we have the basic principle by which we are saved: it is the principle of substitution—someone dying in another’s place. That is the only way any sinner can ever, under any condition, be offered forgiveness and pardon, the principle of substitution.

So after they had made atonement by slaying this heifer, the elders who represented all the people of this now polluted territory, were to wash their hands in a bowl of water and plead their innocence before the Lord.

But on the contrary, Deuteronomy presents the idea of a holy community, which is something that we don’t think much about. Serious sin affects the whole lot so that when something, particularly willful murder, occurs, the whole community needs cleansing to remove the pollution and the wrath of God upon it. That goes exactly contrary to what modern people think, even church people.

As modern medicine is discovering anew, cheerfulness has physical consequences. It promotes life. So the sixth commandment calls us, among many other things, to be cheerful.

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, ubut bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We are murderers also when we kill our neighbor’s soul.176 Satan was such a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). We kill a soul whenever we seduce someone, causing them to fall into sin through our word or our example. This happens when we flatter our neighbors’ pride, incite their evil lusts and desires, feed their anger, encourage their lust for revenge, weaken their tender consciences, shock their faith by our doubt, crush their faith by our ridicule, or offend them in anything whatsoever. We can do this even to our children if we ignore the bad books they read or any irreverent talk about God, his Word, church, or sermons, or if we stroke their pride, appeal to their ambition, and the like. And all of us are murderers—it was our sins that caused Jesus’s death.177

Nevertheless, Scripture recognizes that warfare is sometimes necessary in a fallen world. As we have seen, God has given the sword to the civil magistrate (Acts 25:11; Rom. 13:4). The sword is an instrument of bloodshed and death. God is the one who enables the devout warrior to prevail (Ps. 144:1).

Scripture respects the military vocation. John the Baptist told soldiers not to rob others, but did not tell them to leave the army (Luke 3:14). Roman centurions tend to be positive models in the New Testament (Matt. 27:54; Luke 7:9; Acts 10:2, 22, 35).

In the Old Testament, Abraham rescued his nephew Lot by raising a military force (Gen. 14:13–16). Later, God commanded Israel to make war.

What are the duties required in the sixth commandment?

A. The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others, by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any; by just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit; a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreations; by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness; peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches and behavior; forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil; comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent.